TY - JOUR
T1 - The critical role of cloud–infrared radiation feedback in tropical cyclone development
AU - Ruppert, James H.
AU - Wing, Allison A.
AU - Tang, Xiaodong
AU - Duran, Erika L.
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Fuqing Zhang, Robert Nystrom, and Kerry Emanuel are acknowledged for helpful comments. Hugh Willoughby is acknowledged for providing solver code for Sawyer–Eliassen calculations. We also thank Yunji Zhang and Masashi Minamide for guidance on the use of infrared satellite data and CRTM code. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. J.H.R. received support from the Center for Advanced Data Assimilation and Predictability Techniques, the Pennsylvania State University; A.A.W. from NOAA’s Climate Program Office’s Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections Program under Grant NA18OAR4310270 and the NSF through Grant 1830724; X.T. from the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant 2017YFC1501601 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China through Grant 41675054; and E.L.D. from Tsengdar Lee of NASA’s Research and Analysis Program, Weather Focus Area through the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/10
Y1 - 2020/11/10
N2 - The tall clouds that comprise tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons—or more generally, tropical cyclones (TCs)—are highly effective at trapping the infrared radiation welling up from the surface. This cloud–infrared radiation feedback, referred to as the “cloud greenhouse effect,” locally warms the lower–middle troposphere relative to a TC’s surroundings through all stages of its life cycle. Here, we show that this effect is essential to promoting and accelerating TC development in the context of two archetypal storms—Super Typhoon Haiyan (2013) and Hurricane Maria (2017). Namely, this feedback strengthens the thermally direct transverse circulation of the developing storm, in turn both promoting saturation within its core and accelerating the spin-up of its surface tangential circulation through angular momentum convergence. This feedback therefore shortens the storm’s gestation period prior to its rapid intensification into a strong hurricane or typhoon. Further research into this subject holds the potential for key progress in TC prediction, which remains a critical societal challenge.
AB - The tall clouds that comprise tropical storms, hurricanes, and typhoons—or more generally, tropical cyclones (TCs)—are highly effective at trapping the infrared radiation welling up from the surface. This cloud–infrared radiation feedback, referred to as the “cloud greenhouse effect,” locally warms the lower–middle troposphere relative to a TC’s surroundings through all stages of its life cycle. Here, we show that this effect is essential to promoting and accelerating TC development in the context of two archetypal storms—Super Typhoon Haiyan (2013) and Hurricane Maria (2017). Namely, this feedback strengthens the thermally direct transverse circulation of the developing storm, in turn both promoting saturation within its core and accelerating the spin-up of its surface tangential circulation through angular momentum convergence. This feedback therefore shortens the storm’s gestation period prior to its rapid intensification into a strong hurricane or typhoon. Further research into this subject holds the potential for key progress in TC prediction, which remains a critical societal challenge.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2013584117
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2013584117
M3 - Article
C2 - 33106402
AN - SCOPUS:85096079741
VL - 117
SP - 27884
EP - 27892
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 45
ER -